Name: Matthew Palmer
Birthdate: 12/7/08
Weight: 10 lbs 13 ozs
Length: 22 inches
Head: 15 inches
Birthplace: HOME!
My due date was Thursday, Dec 4, 2008. As with my second child, that date came and went with no signs of having a baby anytime soon. The big difference with this child from my other two children was that I was planning a homebirth. I’d ended up with a c-section with my first and a hospital VBAC with my second. I’d also ended up choosing an epidural at 8cm with my second so I’d never really experienced a fully natural labor before. I had the birth tub set up in my bedroom, birth supplies ordered and some that I supplied myself and a midwife who was to attend my birth.
Overnight on Dec 5, I’d had some contractions that woke me up but no sustained, regular pattern. I had four decent strength contractions between 1-1:30 am and another four between 3-3:30 am but none that made me think “I’m having a baby soon”. It was somewhat snowy on Saturday, Dec 6 so I stayed home despite having things I’d like to get done. I’d wanted to go pick out an outfit for the baby and a few other things, but the weather kept me home. . I lost my mucus plug during the day and had a few contractions but I wasn’t having any major signs of having a baby. I went to bed that evening feeling a little strange, but not really knowing what it meant.
I woke up about 11:30 pm with a contraction that totally caught me off guard. I was expecting another labor like my second: a slow build where the contractions slowly got stronger. However, that was not to be this time around. The contraction I had at 11:30 was one that kicked my butt out of bed and said “You are having a baby soon!” I was screaming for my husband to take me to the hospital for an epidural. My husband started to fill the birthing pool and called my doula and my midwife at that point. I think that even if my doula had lived next door to me, she couldn’t have gotten then soon enough. One of the first things I remember saying to my doula was “All I can say is “Pressure waves” my ass - this is pain!” I was going to try Hypnobabies for this birth but that got thrown out the window pretty quickly.
My husband called my midwife back and mentioned the amount of pain I was in and the midwife said that the baby was most likely posterior and that was what was causing the pain. The midwife’s apprentice got there and helped finish filling the tub, setting up birth supplies and updated my midwife on the status of my contractions. My midwife went ahead and came up to my house and slept in our spare room for a while.
The contractions with this labor were way worse than previous labors, even the pitocin induced contractions of my first child. There was pain before, during, after and between contractions which, as a VBAC, concerned me. I did keep saying that something was wrong, but my midwife kept telling me that everything was OK. She would listen to the baby and hear the heart rate was fine, but I still wasn’t convinced. I remember looking at the nightstand and seeing the phone and thinking “I should get out of the tub, get the phone and call 911”. For some reason, I never did that, but I do remember thinking it on at least two occasions. My midwife just looked at me each time I said I wanted to go to the hospital for an epidural. She kept saying I was doing fine, but I really didn’t feel like it. After many hours of painful contractions, I asked my midwife to check to and she said I was complete.
My water didn’t break until I was complete and I was pushing at about 6 am. Conveniently, my water broke when I was sitting on the toilet. I remember it being a big gush and felt like a release of pressure. It was strange to me how my water broke at such different stages of labor with each of my children. My water broke before contractions with my first (thus how I ended up with pitocin) and somewhere between 5-8cm with second child. Once my water broke, I asked my doula for the phone so that I could call my neighbor to come over and watch the kids (who, for some reason, were both awake that morning at 6am). I tried pushing in the tub, but it wasn’t working effectively so I got out and onto the floor next to the tub.
At first, the pain of the contraction kept me from pushing, but after a while, I started to push effectively. With every contraction, I’d push and it felt like my butt was going to explode. I kept saying that even though I knew my butt wasn’t really going to explode, but it sure felt like it was going to. I kept asking if the head could be seen and was discouraged when the answer was always “Not yet”. My c-section had happened after two hours of pushing and I’d ended up with a vacuum assisted birth with my second after two and a half hours of pushing so I think I got hung up during pushing because I’d had trouble with that stage twice before. Finally, the head was visible and my husband said “It’s got hair!” Eventually, the head came out and I remember my doula saying “Sunny side up!” Once the head was out, my midwife and her apprentice told me to flip onto my hands and knees (I was on my side before) and the next thing I know, there was a baby. The first thing I said was “It’s so small!” which was followed very quickly by “Don’t say what it is, Chris!” I just held onto the baby for about 30 seconds before I looked and quietly said “It’s a boy”. When my midwife weighed him, he ended up being 10 lbs 13 ozs, 22 inches long, with a 15 inch head.
Labor was about 9 hours and included about 2.5 hours of pushing. Despite the fact he was posterior, this was my shortest labor of all three children, but it was also the most painful of my labors. He was also the largest of my three children. My first child was a c-section for “CPD/baby too big/pelvis too small” and she was my smallest at 9lbs 6ozs. My hospital vbac baby was 9lbs 10 ozs. Apparently, I make big babies with fairly big heads. I ended up with a pretty decent sized tear, but it was worth it.
I’ve included a link to a few pics. Apparently, my midwife’s apprentice doesn’t know how to use a flash so I don’t have many pics that aren’t totally dark.
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/w...=8CZsnDNuyaMWI
Birthdate: 12/7/08
Weight: 10 lbs 13 ozs
Length: 22 inches
Head: 15 inches
Birthplace: HOME!
My due date was Thursday, Dec 4, 2008. As with my second child, that date came and went with no signs of having a baby anytime soon. The big difference with this child from my other two children was that I was planning a homebirth. I’d ended up with a c-section with my first and a hospital VBAC with my second. I’d also ended up choosing an epidural at 8cm with my second so I’d never really experienced a fully natural labor before. I had the birth tub set up in my bedroom, birth supplies ordered and some that I supplied myself and a midwife who was to attend my birth.
Overnight on Dec 5, I’d had some contractions that woke me up but no sustained, regular pattern. I had four decent strength contractions between 1-1:30 am and another four between 3-3:30 am but none that made me think “I’m having a baby soon”. It was somewhat snowy on Saturday, Dec 6 so I stayed home despite having things I’d like to get done. I’d wanted to go pick out an outfit for the baby and a few other things, but the weather kept me home. . I lost my mucus plug during the day and had a few contractions but I wasn’t having any major signs of having a baby. I went to bed that evening feeling a little strange, but not really knowing what it meant.
I woke up about 11:30 pm with a contraction that totally caught me off guard. I was expecting another labor like my second: a slow build where the contractions slowly got stronger. However, that was not to be this time around. The contraction I had at 11:30 was one that kicked my butt out of bed and said “You are having a baby soon!” I was screaming for my husband to take me to the hospital for an epidural. My husband started to fill the birthing pool and called my doula and my midwife at that point. I think that even if my doula had lived next door to me, she couldn’t have gotten then soon enough. One of the first things I remember saying to my doula was “All I can say is “Pressure waves” my ass - this is pain!” I was going to try Hypnobabies for this birth but that got thrown out the window pretty quickly.
My husband called my midwife back and mentioned the amount of pain I was in and the midwife said that the baby was most likely posterior and that was what was causing the pain. The midwife’s apprentice got there and helped finish filling the tub, setting up birth supplies and updated my midwife on the status of my contractions. My midwife went ahead and came up to my house and slept in our spare room for a while.
The contractions with this labor were way worse than previous labors, even the pitocin induced contractions of my first child. There was pain before, during, after and between contractions which, as a VBAC, concerned me. I did keep saying that something was wrong, but my midwife kept telling me that everything was OK. She would listen to the baby and hear the heart rate was fine, but I still wasn’t convinced. I remember looking at the nightstand and seeing the phone and thinking “I should get out of the tub, get the phone and call 911”. For some reason, I never did that, but I do remember thinking it on at least two occasions. My midwife just looked at me each time I said I wanted to go to the hospital for an epidural. She kept saying I was doing fine, but I really didn’t feel like it. After many hours of painful contractions, I asked my midwife to check to and she said I was complete.
My water didn’t break until I was complete and I was pushing at about 6 am. Conveniently, my water broke when I was sitting on the toilet. I remember it being a big gush and felt like a release of pressure. It was strange to me how my water broke at such different stages of labor with each of my children. My water broke before contractions with my first (thus how I ended up with pitocin) and somewhere between 5-8cm with second child. Once my water broke, I asked my doula for the phone so that I could call my neighbor to come over and watch the kids (who, for some reason, were both awake that morning at 6am). I tried pushing in the tub, but it wasn’t working effectively so I got out and onto the floor next to the tub.
At first, the pain of the contraction kept me from pushing, but after a while, I started to push effectively. With every contraction, I’d push and it felt like my butt was going to explode. I kept saying that even though I knew my butt wasn’t really going to explode, but it sure felt like it was going to. I kept asking if the head could be seen and was discouraged when the answer was always “Not yet”. My c-section had happened after two hours of pushing and I’d ended up with a vacuum assisted birth with my second after two and a half hours of pushing so I think I got hung up during pushing because I’d had trouble with that stage twice before. Finally, the head was visible and my husband said “It’s got hair!” Eventually, the head came out and I remember my doula saying “Sunny side up!” Once the head was out, my midwife and her apprentice told me to flip onto my hands and knees (I was on my side before) and the next thing I know, there was a baby. The first thing I said was “It’s so small!” which was followed very quickly by “Don’t say what it is, Chris!” I just held onto the baby for about 30 seconds before I looked and quietly said “It’s a boy”. When my midwife weighed him, he ended up being 10 lbs 13 ozs, 22 inches long, with a 15 inch head.
Labor was about 9 hours and included about 2.5 hours of pushing. Despite the fact he was posterior, this was my shortest labor of all three children, but it was also the most painful of my labors. He was also the largest of my three children. My first child was a c-section for “CPD/baby too big/pelvis too small” and she was my smallest at 9lbs 6ozs. My hospital vbac baby was 9lbs 10 ozs. Apparently, I make big babies with fairly big heads. I ended up with a pretty decent sized tear, but it was worth it.
I’ve included a link to a few pics. Apparently, my midwife’s apprentice doesn’t know how to use a flash so I don’t have many pics that aren’t totally dark.
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/w...=8CZsnDNuyaMWI
